A man, and woman, and a 4-year-old, getting ready to run for the border by learning about simplifying life, saving money, and the expat life before we ever get there

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Lemon Pepper Wings

I’ve been a fan of Wingstop for years. Their fries are, hands-down, the best in the world (with the exception of the ones hand-cut and fried by my awesome daddy!), and their wings are just incredibly tasty.

Now, I’m not a huge fan of spicy wings. They are OKAY, but what really floats my boat (and increases my waistline) are their lemon pepper wings. They are so yummy, so greasy, so finger-lickin’ good, and well, I have been telling myself that they are also Trim Healthy Mama-friendly. The NI stats actually support them being a pretty solid S, but I’m fairly certain that the oil they use for frying isn’t one I’d have on my list of healthy options. In addition, (1) we are spending a LOT of money on wings since it has become our go-to for dinner carryout, and (2) I CANNOT resist the fries when we get the wings. And those, well, they are nowhere near THM-friendly. I needed a solution, and I needed it NOW!

This weekend, as I prepared for a new semester to start this week, I decided to experiment a bit and make my own lemon pepper wings. Here’s how they turned out:

Ignore the old stained pan and just feast your eyes on that yumminess! These were a real winner for P-Daddy, me, and Tigger. Pooh, unsurprisingly, just wanted his samwich, and since it meant more wings for me, I let him have it

Here’s the recipe, which is definitely going to be a new family favorite:

First, preheat the oven to 350. Put the wings in a single layer in a baking dish. Yes, put the whole bag. You’ll be sorry if you don’t, cause you are definitely gonna want more. Mix the butter, seasoning, extract, and lemon juice together.

Pour that mixture over the wings, and make sure they are all covered. Go ahead, use your hands and massage it all over each of them.

You may notice in my pic that the butter is kind of clumpy. My wings were cold and when I poured the butter over it hardened up. That’s okay. It’ll melt with no problem in the oven. Stick the dish in the oven and let it bake for 45 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. Feel free to baste the wings with the butter at any point in there that you feel it’s necessary. When the wings are cooked through, remove the baking dish and transfer the wings, again in a single layer, to a cookie sheet. Broil until browned, turning halfway through to get both sides nice and crispy.

Now, not only did we really love these wings, but my frugal side also really loved the price. The bag of wings at Aldi costs about $8, and it contains 4 pounds of wings, which is somewhere between 25 and 30 wings. That may sound expensive, but at Wingstop, we get 2 dozen wings (plus fries) for about $26, so this is about 1/3 of the price. And I don’t have the temptation of those incredible fries to deal with! Furthermore, I KNOW that these are a solid S and totally THM-friendly – yum! Guess what this Mama is having for lunch tomorrow!

I’m linking up to Trim Healthy Tuesday over at Gwen’s Nest and Stacy Makes Cents – come on over and check out all the THM goodies to be found there!